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Mortuary owner charged with abuse of corpse

FORT WORTH (AP) — North Texas police filed charges Friday against one of the owners of a funeral home where eight decaying bodies were discovered earlier this week.

Fort Worth police Sgt. Raymond Bush said Rachel Hardy-Johnson was arrested and charged with seven counts of abuse of a corpse. She’s an owner along with her husband, Dondre Johnson, of Johnson Family Mortuary in Fort Worth. No charges have been filed against Dondre Johnson.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office has said seven of the eight bodies found Tuesday at the business were in advanced stages of decomposition, though none showed signs of trauma or foul play. The Johnsons’ landlord notified authorities after he went to the home and found the bodies, but no workers.

The property owner said he told the Johnsons about two weeks ago to vacate the building because they had not paid their rent, according to police.

The Texas Funeral Service Commission has said it is investigating five separate complaints against the business. The state license for the mortuary expires at the end of July.

The Johnsons have said they were tending to the bodies as they awaited burial or transportation for burial elsewhere. It wasn’t immediately clear Friday if Hardy-Johnson has an attorney.

Hardy-Johnson previously told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the landlord locked the doors last month because the business was behind on rent. The mortuary got behind again, and the landlord went to the business Tuesday when he knew no one would be there “so he could lock us out again,” Hardy-Johnson said.

“There was a legal way to do this,” Hardy-Johnson said. “You cannot just throw us out. He knew we had bodies inside. We’ve been in this location for four years without a problem. He did not care how much hurt he caused those families.”